Dr Bellow's book on Military Psychiatry
by Lizzie Brookes
Summary: This story is from Dr Bellow's viewpoint and is about the entire series from his point of view. The idea was inspired in me when I saw a journal from Dr Bellow's viewpoint on another website.
1. Chapter 1

**Military Psychiatry**

By Dr Alfred Bellows

**Prologue**

By General Schaeffer

I, General Schaffer to pacify my ex-colleague Dr Alfred Bellows agreed to write an introduction to his book "Military Psychiatry" after I retired from the space programme. I was to be frank surprised that this book became so popular though this was not perhaps because of the extraordinary psychiatric reports on Major Nelson and Major Healey. I think myself that it was because the exemplary mental make up of an air force psychiatrist attracted the attention of readers and moved them to sympathy and intrigue. Dr Bellows was a good man, a fine doctor and a successful psychiatrist until Captain Anthony Nelson joined the space programme in September 1965. Captain Nelson, who was later promoted to Major and his best friend Captain Healey who was also promoted to Major, somehow became the fixation of Dr Alfred Bellows.

Dr Bellows was born on 29th October 1917. He had a sister, a year younger than him who wanted to train to be an ordinary medical doctor. Both Alfred and Clare Bellows attended medical school. Dr Bellows graduated on June 6th 1942 and his sister a year later. For five years he was an ordinary doctor but then he felt restless and wanted to do more with his life. He had an enquiring mind and wanted to be more than an ordinary doctor. Clare suggested that he should join the air force. He did and became a flight surgeon for a time. Clare herself after a few years of doctoring married and became an ordinary housewife. She gave birth to a son whom she named Richard. Doctor Bellows was assigned to NASA as a captain. Despite his obvious affection for his sister he was a lonely individual who was apart from others. He was promoted to Major and at that point realized it was the mind that truly fascinated him, not the body. He trained in military psychiatry and qualified as a psychiatrist.

When Colonel Stone was promoted to a General in 1952, he made Dr Bellows a medical and psychiatric officer in the NASA space programme. General Stone, who was a perceptive man, noticed Dr Bellows' isolation and that he was not a fully happy individual despite his professional successes. He took Dr Bellows under his wing, praising his successes, inviting him out for a drink, encouraging him to pay social visits to him and Mrs. Stone and generally looking out for him. Dr Bellows was grateful to his superior for this and responded to his kindness. A close friendship formed between them despite their professional relations to each other. It was when he was spending an evening out with Dr and Mrs. Stone in 1953 that a theatrical, Amanda Marlow caught his attention. She was having an orange juice with a friend and she noticed him as well. Following some persuasion from General Stone, Dr Bellows got to know her and asked her out on a date. She agreed.

A while later, she resigned her job and became engaged to him. For a time they did not tell anyone. Then they married and General Stone was naturally Dr Bellow's best man. In this book, Dr Bellows has recorded his experiences of military psychiatry since 1965 when Captains Nelson and Healey joined the space programme and which though unbelievable have nevertheless been fascinating to read. This book has of course been written with the full permission of all parties concerned.


	2. Chapter 2

**September 18****th**** 1965**

I was happy with my work and social life, especially since my marriage and since General Stone

took me under his wing. I also became fond of my sister in law, Betty and her son. Yet, I did wish that I had more interesting psychiatric cases to deal with. There were the usual cases of low self esteem, depression, self injury, anger problems and so on among the officers but nothing of any significance. Then on September 14th 1965 both Anthony Nelson and Roger Healey joined the space programme. They were close friends and both were pleasant, likeable young men of about twenty four. They joined the space proramme as captains. I noticed that Captain Healey was more of an outgoing type than Captain Nelson. Captain Nelson was reserved but he was the General's niece Melissa's fiancée so I supposed this was only natural. They had been engaged for three years. When I first met the men, I naturally never believed that they and particularly Captain Nelson would become the most interesting psychiatric cases I had ever come across.

It all began when Captain Nelson replaced Captain Healey on an important mission. Captain Healey had an ear infection for which I had prescribed some medicine. I gave him permission to be on the backup team and to help his friend into his spacesuit but nothing more. The missile went up but something went wrong and we were forced to land it in a remote desert island in the South Pacific. Later on, a helicopter collected Captain Nelson and brought him back. It was this very day in fact. I asked his fiancée if I could speak to him alone and did so. He was positive there were no physical after effects but somewhat hesitant when I enquired as to emotional after effects. Immediately catching on, I probed into this. Captain Nelson reluctantly confessed to having had a hallucination. He found a bottle on the beach and hallucinated a female genie out of it. He passed it off as something occurring in the heat of the moment but I was concerned that it could recur.

I notified General Stone and we questioned Captain Nelson. He seemed to have a fixation on garbage and was convinced there was a girl in the garbage can. General Stone, Captain Healey and myself calmed Captain Nelson. When we suggested taking him to hospital, Captain Nelson told us that the whole thing was a joke. General Stone and the others believed it but I was not convinced because it seemed so real. I knew it was a cover up but I had no evidence. I decided to keep a close eye on him and told my wife of this occurrence. I kept my suspicions to myself for the time. Captain Nelson definitely appears to have a profound inability to realize the difference between fantasy and reality and clearly has unexplained psychological conflicts.

**Signed Alfred Bellows**

**October 2****nd**** 1965**

We sent Captains Nelson and Healey on a survival mission to a desert in Nevada, providing them with water only. They were to live off the land. They returned today. Captain Healey had blistered feet from walking thirty miles a day and had lost twelve pounds. However, Captain Nelson had gained five pounds and developed a gout in addition. I was bewildered by these disproportionate results. I knew if I was truthful in the report I would be fired from the space programme and laughed out of the medical profession. Captain Nelson confessed that he feasted on roast lamb and melon and that he rode most of the way on a camel. Captain Healey protested that this was a mirage he had had. I saw the way out. It was simplicity itself and providence had given me an explanation. Captain Healey saw the food and Captain Nelson tasted it. His imagination was so strong that he not only believed he ate the food; he gained the gout as well. I was content but recommended him for the more arduous operation extinction. My wife was relieved I had found an explanation and assured me I was not insane.

**Signed Alfred Bellows**

**23****rd**** October 1965**

Today when I visited the Nelson home, I found Captain Healey inside talking to the walls. Captain Nelson was on a mission on board a yacht. When Captain Healey saw me, he quickly explained that Captain Nelson had asked him to talk to the walls because he wanted them to know he was in trouble. This bizarre idea made me think that Captain Nelson was truly in need of psychoanalysis but I appreciated that Captain Healey was completely normal, that he felt stupid at having to do what he did and he only did it to pacify his friend. I asked him to leave and when he mentioned that he promised to have a conversation with the vacuum cleaner said I would. I felt stupid so I examined it on all sides and found nothing unusual. Amanda thinks that Captain Nelson is eccentric because he lives alone. I am not so sure.

**Signed Alfred Bellows**

**October 30****th**** 1965**

Today I rang Captain Nelson and told him to report to the base at 2.00 for some medical tests. Although he had checked out 100 I was not quite satisfied and wanted to justify my belief that he suffered from delusions, and hallucinations which were both visual and audible. I was totally baffled to hear a horse in his living room although he denied it. The results of these tests were beyond my wildest expectations and I told him he did not need a capsule on Monday. I was willing to accept that there were problems with my equipment but I was not at all prepared for the rapid rising and falling of his heart rate and the other strange medical problems he appeared to be suffering from. I settled down to work late into the night and I was alarmed when the papers began to move about and the keyboard started working on its own.

Walter brought me my dinner but whenever I took a bite from my sandwich it was whole and when I tried to drink my coffee, the cup would always be empty despite my filling it. I thought I was overworking despite Walter's suggestion that I should seek medical help. When Captain Nelson arrived, claiming I had telephoned him, I was aghast. I said I did not know whether I telephoned him or not. I checked my heartbeat but it had stopped and I thought I was dead. I told Captain Nelson that he was back in the space programme and in my condition I could not judge anyone. I rang the base hospital and turned myself in for observation. Walter is right. I do need help.

**Signed Alfred Bellows**

**27****th**** November 1965**

An officer on the base asked me to examine his son Custer. Custer, an eight year old I was told was always in company with Captain Anthony Nelson. I had been inclined to refuse at first because I had no time but on hearing this, I wanted to make use of this unlooked for chance to prove my point about Captain Nelson. I believed Custer's story about unexplained feats of levitation though I was more doubtful about a girl in a harem costume who vanished into smoke. I enlisted Custer's help to find Captain Nelson out. When I came by, Custer told me there was a girl in a harem outfit dancing but had disappeared. We were questioned by the police but Captain Nelson vouched for us. Custer claimed that Nelson was levitating. I myself saw no such feats and told Custer we would have his eyes tested in the morning. Amanda chided me for enlisting a child's help to prove a point. I was sorry this came to nothing but I am sure I will have another chance to catch the Captain out.

**Signed Alfred Bellows**

**11****th**** December 1965**

We asked Captains Nelson and Healey to escort two Russian Cosmonauts who were visiting Cocoa Beach. When the General and I went to see Captain Nelson we found him trying to take a bottle from the Russian Cosmonaut. He claimed that Captain Healey gave it to her by mistake and that it was really his. The General made him return it all the same. A few minutes later when Captain Nelson, the General and myself were in conversation, Captain Nelson for some inexplicable reason kicked the General. He claimed he had no control over his foot since he walked in outer space. The General was naturally angry and even I was shocked.

He told me to give the Captain a complete medical examination. I told Captain Nelson that I had had him under observation for some time and that to date he had hallucinations, heard voices and behaved peculiarly. For all these things including his bottle fixation, he seemed to have dubious explanations but I made it clear that there was no explanation for striking a fellow officer, which was the ultimate in irrational behaviour. In conversation with him I was surprised when I accidentally kicked him. Thinking I was unwell I started taking my pulse. Though a pleasant man, a good friend and a talented officer, I must admit Captain Nelson is extraordinary. My wife says I talk about him night and day and it is true, I do. I can't seem to help it.

**Signed Alfred Bellows. **


	3. Chapter 3

**December 18****th**** 1965**

I think both Captain Nelson and myself are in need of psychoanalysis. I came over to see him to tell him I had bought the vacant house across the street. A woman whom he referred to as his housekeeper uttered a kind of curse "May the vultures descend and pick your bones". The next thing I knew a sheep came down the stairs. I did not bother to say anything. When I took General Hadley to see my vacant lot, we found Captain Nelson drinking tea there. He seemed distracted and then went to tend his sheep. The General told me to keep an eye on him and I wholeheartedly agreed. He seems to be showing signs of psychological regression.

It was at this time that Captain Healey also started to show abnormality. He mentioned he was dining at his fiancée's and that Captain Nelson was right across the street, giving the address of my property. The General asked me to keep an eye on him as well. I thought one "weed sitter" was quite enough in the space programme. When I went to see Captain Nelson I discovered my vacant lot already had a house on it. Yet when I asked Captain Nelson about it and then turned to look, there was a vacant lot with Captain Healey sitting in the middle of it. Captain Nelson appeared not have noticed but promised not to say anything. I think I am really in need of a vacation and so does Amanda. We are going to her sister's for two weeks and I shall be glad to be away from Captains Nelson and Healey for a while.

**Signed Alfred Bellows. **

**January 8****th**** 1966**

I must admit, Captain Nelson totally baffles me. I walked into his office to hear him on the phone. This may seem like a usual occurrence but the first thing I heard him say was "How could one of your feet be missing?" I just folded my arms and watched him. He carried on with this strange conversation "Oh that's impossible, you must have misplaced it. You just look for your foot while I wait" and so it went on. Then he turned and saw me and cancelled the call. When I enquired who was on the phone he told me it was a female friend who spends time with her bottle so I deduced that this friend of his was an alcoholic. I asked him if he knew what he said when her arms and legs went "missing" – "Don't panic, it could happen to anyone". He passed it off as a figure of speech but I can't accept that. I have my work cut out trying to psychoanalyse this man so I no longer want to retire. He then had another hallucination in the capsule and I ordered him to be in my office, only to be distracted by Captain Healey's account of climbing trees in his pyjamas, communicating with bees and having a recurring dream that he is a thirsty camel. Even this is more understandable than Captain Nelson's problems.

**Signed Alfred Bellows**

**15****th**** January 1966**

I truly believe Captain Nelson has lost his mind. When I came into Captain Healey's office I found him stating that Captain Healey only thought of his safe as something to use and expressing his love for it. I asked him if he had been in love with the safe for long and if they were engaged or just going together. He tried a drastic cover up but for a man who carries on conversations with walls and vacuum cleaners, falling in love with a safe is not particularly unusual.

**Signed Alfred Bellows.**

**January 22****nd**** 1966**

Today it was Captain Healey who caught my attention, not Captain Nelson. He was out on a date

with my niece and returned at three in the morning. I had intended to send him to Andromeda Inlet but Captain Nelson talked me out of it. When I went to give Captain Healey the good news he seemed to my surprise to have guessed what I was going to say. In fact he seemed to be expecting it and showed signs of a man on the verge of a mental breakdown. I reluctantly agreed to his dating my niece again but when I telephoned to ask him when he would drop her off he sounded quite strange.

He said "Two in the morning, three in the morning, it depends on my mood". I thought at first he had been drinking. Then he announced quite unexpectedly that he had decided to make me head of the medical department at ten tomorrow. I was too taken aback to speak. I then firmly believed that he was suffering from megalomania and experiencing delusions of power and importance. When he came to my office I told him as much and was about to send him away for a complete rest when Captain Nelson entered with some papers and congratulated me on being appointed head of the medical department. For once I was incorrect in my suppositions and also had a rational explanation. My wife was so proud of me and my sister in law rang to congratulate me.

**Signed Alfred Bellows**

**February 5****th**** 1966**

Captain Nelson is trying my patience as a military psychiatrist. This morning I rang him to tell him Captain Healey was having an appendectomy and he promised to come to the hospital immediately to visit him. When I went to Captain Healey's operating room he had jumped off the operating table. For some reason he seemed terrified and he refused to have the operation. He fledfrom the room. I thought at first that he was afraid of having the operation. The surgeon I spoke to was new and claimed Captain Healey was suffering from pre-operative shock which I must admit I had never heard of. I couldn't help feeling I knew Dr "Rasa Houn" from somewhere but I did not consider this of any importance until I went to ask him a question and discovered Captain Nelson in his stead. From the medical outfit left on the bed I suspected that Captain Nelson was a medical impersonator and this seemed to explain everything.

Naturally Captain Healey seems reluctant to betray his best friend but his reaction is now wholly unsurprising. I was completely shocked by this behaviour and went to inform General Peterson of my suspicions. When General Stone left after Tony's engagement to his niece was broken off, General Peterson arrived. We became good friends but my suspicions about Captain Nelson exasperate him. He did not believe it but reluctantly accompanied me to the hospital. I agreed that Captain Nelson was a capable astronaut but I wanted to prove that he has a completely damaged mentality and as to why he would do this I replied I didn't know as I was only a psychiatrist. I intercepted Captain Nelson when he was about to leave and escorted him firmly back to the operating room. Yet when I tried to have him court martialed I found myself face to face with a completely different doctor and I still cannot understand how this happened to me.

The General thinks I have lost my mind. Amanda reassured me that anyone can make mistakes and that I was probably overtired. That is possible I suppose.

**Signed Alfred Bellows**

**February 12****th**** 1966**

Today, Captain Healey came to me claiming that Chinese spies had captured Captain Nelson. I sent him away to find more information and told General Peterson of it. Neither of us believed it but thought they believed it. Captain Healey's remarks became wilder and e seemed in a nervous state. I asked him how he was feeling and he replied that he was fine. I planned to send both Captain Nelson and Captain Healey on vacation for three months when they came in together. Captain Nelson claimed he was working at home all the time and revealed that Captain Healey was talking about the plot for a show. The General suggested we extend the leave for six months and that I could begin immediately despite Captain Nelson asking him not to blame me. I have never been more humiliated.

**Signed Alfred Bellows**


	4. Chapter 4

**February 19****th**** 1966**

This time, I entered Major Nelson's bedroom with some paperwork and witnessed a huge elephant there. I couldn't believe my eyes and questioned him. He replied that the elephant was called Tiger and a friend of his had gone on a safari, asking him to take care of the elephant. I informed the General who grumbled as he accompanied me. To my surprise, Major Nelson presented a small dog which he referred to as "Tiger". Annoyed, the General departed but I did not give up so easily, especially when I caught Major Nelson absent mindedly sketching an elephant while we watched his space launch. I determined to move in with him only to be attacked by his rather unpredictable cook. Then I imagined I saw his bottle flying around and in my attempts to catch it, broke a lamp. Three times I woke Major Nelson and fled the fourth time, declaring that his house was haunted.

**Signed Alfred Bellows**

**March 5****th**** 1966**

We had asked all the astronauts to paint ammeter works of art to bid at the NASA auction to raise money for the Air Force Benevolence Fund. Major Healey's work was not at all what I had in mind and I tried my best to be polite about it but I was impressed with Major Nelson's copy of a Rembrandt. I had no suspicions about the painting until two of the world's foremost art experts paid particular attention to it and started bidding higher and higher for it out of desperation of buying it. Even Major Nelson who was in charge of the bidding was surprised. Later, I summoned Major Nelson to the laboratory immediately and confronted him with the art experts' claim that this was a genuine Rembrandt. He tried to pass this off with a laugh at first but I emphasized the seriousness of his situation by warning him that if he pained it himself, signed it Rembrandt and sold it, he was guilty of conspiracy and grand larceny. If on the other hand he did not paint it and it was the genuine Rembrandt from the Louvre then he was guilty of theft and grand larceny. The General of course did not believe a word of it and when Pierre Millay the greatest art expert in the world confirmed that it was not the true Rembrandt, I apologised to Captain Nelson at once. It seems this time I made a mistake and I always admit when I am wrong.

**Signed Alfred Bellows**

**March 16****th**** 1966**

Major Nelson arrived this morning just as Major Healey and I were discussing the theft of a pair of valuable olden slippers from a museum. The museum was hosting a traveling exhibition from Bukinsthan and the United States government was responsible for the slippers. Major Nelson seemed unconcerned but I pointed out that though it was only a pair of slippers to him but that the Bukistan government had lodged a formal complaint and informed the state department that unless the slippers were returned within the hour, they would consider the theft a deliberate affront to their government. The museum guard had stated that an officer left just before the slippers were discovered to be missing and we decided to check out the list of officers off duty at the time of the robbery.

I was sure the thief was a psychopath with a fetish for women's shoes since there were objects in the case much more valuable and the thief took only the slippers. At this point in time, I had no suspicion that Major Nelson was the culprit. However when I saw him carrying the stolen slippers in a shoebox, I immediately fetched the General after wagering with him that if I were wrong, I

would eat the shoebox. I was aghast when I arrived to discover the shoebox contained a lobster. I

tried once more to catch Captain Nelson out by summoning the museum guard, only to be told that the thief had re-entered the museum and returned the slippers. I informed Major Nelson of this and he claimed the criminal mind was an amazing thing. Though I had no proof I was still sure he was the culprit and warned him that one day I would catch him.

**Signed Alfred Bellows**

**March 24****th**** 1966**

Today, under General Peterson's suggestion, I commanded Major Nelson to meet, escort and entertain a princess at the base or three days. He took this normally enough at first but I should have realized that with Major Nelson can take nothing normally. Five minutes later, having had some kind of brainstorm, he burst into my office and begged me to prevent her plane from landing, claiming that it could mean war. I asked him calmly if he had ever met the princess and he denied it. He seemed very flustered and started some irrational speech about how three thousand years previously one of her ancestors stole some camels and wives and then ran off without finishing it. He is clearly in a state of high nervous excitement. However, I realized he had done it to me again when I returned with the general to find him calm and looking forward to showing the princess around.

**Signed Alfred Bellows**

**5****th**** May 1966**

In the middle of the night, I passed by Major Nelson's office where he was working late to hear the sound of voices. Opening the door cautiously, I saw a girl in a pink harem outfit, calling Major Nelson "master" and serving him all kinds of delicious food. The table was spread with a feast and I suspected that Major Nelson had smuggled her onto the base somehow. General Peterson was annoyed to be woken up but I assured him that this time I had finally caught Major Nelson. However, when we reached the office we found him eating a cheese sandwich and talking to the cleaner. The cleaner denied all knowledge of the girl in the scanty costume and though Major Nelson said that the party was probably happening in another office, I was not deceived. The General told me I had a very suspicious mind but I know what I saw. The General told me the next time I suspected Major Nelson of being guilty of doing something wrong I should have it in writing. I remembered this when I saw him levitating in the air without a levitating device in his living room and made him sign a written statement saying he was floating in the air. Major Nelson claimed he was an amateur magician but I made him perform in front of the whole base and summoned Nestor the Great. Nestor the Great was positive that Major Nelson was lying and that "no magician in the world could do what he was doing" but when he too rose up in the air, I realized I had been outwitted yet again.

**Signed Alfred Bellows**

**2****nd**** July 1966**

This was one of the rare occasions when it was Major Healey, not Major Nelson that attracted my attention as a professional psychiatrist. Major Healey burst into his friend's office where I happened to be reading over some documents. I told him Major Nelson had gone home and then asked what happened to Major Healey's fingers. He muttered that he had frostbite and went away quickly while I puzzled over how he could have frostbite in July. The following day he appeared with his arm in a sling and claimed he had been attacked by a tribe of pygmies. I wondered how

this could happen in Cocoa Beach. The third time, he came, he was limping and admitted he had

a case of the bends and I was surprised that he got this when he was on dry land. The mystery seemed to me to be solved when Major Nelson came into my office that very morning and told me Major Healey had had some kind of mental breakdown and needed help. He claimed that Major Healey believed that he, Major Nelson was going to marry a genie who lived in a bottle and that this genie had sent him off to the South Pole, the Amazon Jungles and under the sea.

This all started to tie in with Major Healey's peculiar behaviour. I felt bad that I was blaming the peculiar things that had happened on Major Nelson and apologised sincerely to him. When we visited Major Healey he was in a very nervous state and eventually admitted to his delusion. However, when I returned to Major Nelson's office with the General, we found he had gone. We finally located him standing outside the window waving a white flag to someone he alone could see. When the General questioned him he denied what he previously said but I was sure Major Nelson could witness it. It so happened a vase fell on Major Nelson's head at this time but when we went into the kitchen and asked him, he claimed he had not seen me since yesterday. I decided to go to my couch and lie down.

**Signed Alfred Bellows**

**September 18****th**** 1966**

It was exactly one year ago today that Major Nelson went on that fatal flight when his psychiatric problems first started. I reminded him of this and the General said this time he expected a perfect flight. Imagine our surprise when he ended up crashing back onto the same island he landed on previously. The General organized an extensive search to find Major Nelson while I went and read over some papers in my office. I thought for a second, I was losing my mind when I witnessed Major Nelson walk past my office. I called him in and he entered like a man in a dream. He looked like he was in complete shock but he could not be more shocked than I was. He confirmed that he had been in orbit and would explain his being here now. I insisted he explain it to the General and asked him to wait. I commanded a sergeant to guard the door. When I told the General to call of the search he looked at me in surprise and seemed aghast when I claimed that Major Nelson was not in outer space after all but in my office. He asked me if I knew what I just said. I repeated my statement, explaining that I knew we had our differences about Major Nelson in the past but that this time he would not get away with it. The General did not believe he was there but accompanied me all the same. We found the room empty and I insisted in vain that he had been there. Then a sergeant arrived explaining they had located Major Nelson in orbit and something must have gone wrong with the equipment. I stood alone and dejected wondering why this always had to happen to me.

**Signed Alfred Bellows**


End file.
